Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [93]
Gathering places for relaxation and the exchange of information in an age when mail was slow and newspapers in their infancy, London coffeehouses became the centers of social life. For the price of admission—usually a penny—you got not only your first cup, but news of the day carried in by runners distributing gazettes or simply spreading the most recent gossip.
The precursors of a later institution, the English club, they became the place where one was known to be found at certain times of the day or evening. A specialized clientele frequented each place—businessmen in some, politicians or intellectuals in others. For thirty years, John Dryden, whose talk of writing attracted the likes of Pepys and Pope, was to be found at Will’s Coffee-House. Conviviality was such that even during the plague the houses were filled, despite the risk of contagion, though clients took the precaution of asking about the health of the others at the table.
Coffeehouses were so popular that in 1675, Charles II issued a proclamation for their suppression, describing them as places of license and libel, but thinking in particular of those frequented by his political rivals. There was such an outcry of protest that the king didn’t bother to enforce the edict.
Not only coffee but chocolate drinks and tea were sold, though they were more expensive—in the case of tea, much more expensive. Most customers drank coffee.
Proprietors placed a cup by a sign that read “To Insure Prompt Service,” and those able to afford it tossed in a coin. It became “tips.”
EGYPTIAN CUISINE
In Egypt, fish now comes primarily from the Red Sea and Mediterranean instead of the Nile, where it was once so abundant that it was considered the food of the poor. More elaborately prepared, it also appeared on the tables of the rich. It was in Egypt that the technique was developed to force-feed geese, which were then roasted on a spit. Goose meat continues to be a specialty, along with pigeon, cooked in every way imaginable. Lamb and mutton entered the cuisine by way of the Middle East, particularly Turkey. And for drink—past and present—the choice has always been light beer.
CUCUMBERS
On his tour of the Hebrides with James Boswell in 1773, Samuel Johnson observed that a cucumber “should be well-sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.”
In this instance, the great man was wrong. One of the oldest cultivated vegetables, the cucumber is excellent in salad and makes a fine decoration, a delicious soup, and in England, at tea, a thin and elegant sandwich. Being ninety-six percent water, it has virtually no calories but nevertheless is nourishing, with minerals and vitamins A and C.
A cucumber salad that can be made in twenty minutes, several hours in advance:
CUCUMBER SALAD
1 cucumber, unpeeled and diced
1 red onion, diced
1 large tomato, diced
Extra virgin olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Combine equal amounts of cucumbers, red onions, and tomatoes. Make a dressing with the vinegar and oil in a proportion of 1:1 or 1:2, adding salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve with some good bread on the side. Serves about five.
GLEANING
Probably the most famous gleaner is Ruth, in the book named for her in the Old Testament. A young widow, she leaves her homeland to care for her mother-in-law, Naomi, also a widow. To make ends meet, Ruth goes to the barley field of a neighbor named Boaz and asks for permission to collect the grain left on the ground after the reapers have finished. With that grain, she feeds herself and Naomi, and eventually Ruth marries Boaz.
Historically, gleaning was a way of helping the poor. A certain portion of the harvest was deliberately left in the field to be gathered by those who needed it. Methods of harvesting are more